SAVANNAH, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Health Discovery Corporation (HDVY) announced today that on December 18, 2012, the Board of Directors appointed Dr. John Norris as its new CEO. He succeeds Dr. Stephen Barnhill, who founded HDC, served as Chairman and CEO for 9 years and brought the Company to profitability in Q3 2012.

Dr. Norris, 65, until his appointment as CEO, was Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Regulatory Officer of Health Discovery Corporation and had served in that capacity for the past three years.

“I look forward to assuming the role of CEO at Health Discovery Corporation and leading the Company to its next level of success,” stated John A. Norris, JD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Health Discovery Corporation, “and I want to personally thank Dr. Stephen Barnhill for his many years of dedication to and leadership of HDC as Chairman and CEO from its inception through its profitability. I also want to acknowledge his contribution as an inventor of some 40 of HDC’s patents which are valuable assets of the Company. I look forward to receiving his guidance and advice as I transition into my role as CEO.”

Dr. Norris is a Former Principal Deputy Commissioner (second-in-command) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration), where with Former FDA Commissioner, Dr. Frank Young, he co-led the last major reform of the FDA. This work was performed under the overall leadership of President Ronald Reagan, HHS Secretaries Margaret Heckler and Dr. Otis Bowen, FDA Commissioner Dr. Frank Young, Senator Orrin Hatch, and Congressman Paul Rogers.

Dr. Norris is a Former Director and Co-Leader of the turnaround of Summit Technology (BEAM), inventor of computer-driven (semi-automated) laser eye surgery. The FDA approved Summit’s version of LASIK using the Summit Apex Plus Excimer Laser Workstation. Alcon Laboratories Inc. (ACL), the eye-products unit of Nestle, S.A., acquired Summit Technology, Inc., for $893 million. Summit Technology, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, had sales of $111 million.

In addition, Dr. Norris is a Former Corporate Officer, Corporate Executive Vice President, and Worldwide Managing Director for Life Sciences Coaching and Consulting at Hill & Knowlton. With 83 offices in 46 countries, Hill and Knowlton is one of the world's largest marketing and management coaching and consulting firms. It represents many of the world's premier healthcare, life sciences, and healthcare-IT companies

Dr. Norris is a Director of Ischemix, a developer of next generation heart medicines for advancing ischemia-reperfusion therapy. In addition, he was CEO and is now Chairman of Needlebot, a developer and manufacturer of a next generation software search engine for searching and analyzing “unstructured text” contained in many sources, including nurses' notes, doctors' notes, medical records, medical literature, and clinical trial records, at both the Internet and Enterprise levels, as well as CEO and now Chairman of Norris Capital, a corporate finance and holding company and a boutique legal, regulatory, financial, marketing, and management/strategy coaching and consulting firm. He is also a Director of Last Call Ventures, LLC, a food-supplement company.

Dr. Norris was CEO and is now Chairman of FDDH (Food, Drug, Device, and Healthcare), a healthcare-delivery and healthcare-IT coaching firm, and was CEO and is now Chairman of the Joseph D. Norris, Esq., Health Law and Public Policy Fund. The Joseph D. Norris, Esq., Health Law and Public Policy Fund supports university scholarships for health law and public policy student training.

Dr. Norris is also the Founder and Former Faculty-Editor-in-Chief and CEO of the academic journal, The American Journal of Law and Medicine, which he founded at Harvard, MIT, and Boston University, and which is now housed at Boston University.

Dr. Norris is the Former Chairman of Global MedChoices, which is developing a planned response to US healthcare reform at the convergence of three elements: (1) advanced healthcare-IT, (2) specialty surgical services, and (3) key medical tourism locations.

He is also a Former Chairman of the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, a Former Vice-Chairman of the Massachusetts 4-H Foundation, and a Former Vice-Chairman of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Health Law Committee.

Dr. Norris has been a consultant to the senior management of global companies, including: Pfizer, Merck, J&J, and Glaxo.

Dr. Norris received a BA in Economics, with minors in Political Science and Chemical Engineering, from the University of Rochester (where he was a two varsity-sport athlete, and became a member of the university’s Trustee’s Council); a JD with emphasis in health law, corporate law, and international law from Cornell University’s Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of The International Law Journal; an MBA with emphasis in healthcare and healthcare-IT policy and management, from Cornell University’s S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management; and a Graduate Certificate from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is also a Former Harvard faculty member, where he taught health policy and management, including healthcare-IT reform, healthcare-delivery-system reform, and FDA reform.

According to HDC Board Chairman, Dr. Joe McKenzie, “John has served with distinction for the past three years, and we intend to rely on his global vision of the future of healthcare-delivery-system reform, of healthcare-IT reform, and of FDA reform to drive the transformation of HDC into its next phase of growth.”

HDC Director, Dr. Herb Fritsche stated, “I have known John for a long time and have worked closely with him over the past three years. I can attest to his impeccable personal integrity, intellectual honesty, outstanding vision, and keen knowledge, insights, and judgment regarding the future of advanced healthcare technology, healthcare-delivery-system reform, healthcare-IT reform, and FDA reform. His strong business reputation, and his exceptional advisory and executive capabilities, are all well known to me.”

HDC Director, Mr. Sumio Takeichi commented, “I have worked closely with John for nearly 20 years, both on boards and in business ventures, and I, too, can attest to his honesty, integrity, courage, insight, and intelligence when under pressure. He has the best values, capabilities, and experiences of anyone I know, for teasing potential out of HDC’s technologies and turning the Company’s fortunes in a strongly positive direction. His availability and his willingness to take on that challenge are both God sends.”

Dr. Stephen Barnhill, outgoing CEO, stated, “I have worked closely with John off and on over the past 20 years and I admire John for his keen vision, his prior successes, his comprehensive understanding of HDC’s technology and his business insights and contacts. He is the perfect choice to succeed me, and I am absolutely committed to assisting him with a smooth transition and supporting him in any way that I can to bring success to HDC and its shareholders.”

About Health Discovery Corporation

Health Discovery Corporation is a molecular diagnostics company that uses advanced mathematical techniques to analyze large amounts of data to uncover patterns that might otherwise be undetectable. It operates primarily in the emerging field of personalized medicine where such tools are critical to scientific discovery. Its primary business consists of licensing its intellectual property and developing its own product line of biomarker-based diagnostic tests that include human genes and genetic variations, as well as gene, protein, and metabolic expression differences and image analysis in digital pathology and radiology. For more information, see www.healthdiscoverycorp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, statements regarding future performance, opportunities and investments, and anticipated results in general. From time to time the Company may make other forward-looking statements relating to other matters, including without limitation, commercialization plans and strategic partnerships. Actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including, among other things, the acceptance of our approach to applying mathematics computer science and physics into the disciplines of biology, organic chemistry and medicine and our products and technologies associated with those approaches, the ability to develop or commercialize new drugs, therapies or other products based on our approaches, and other factors set forth from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

All forward-looking statements and cautionary statements included in this document are made as of the date hereof based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or cautionary statement.